Summer Vacation 2013

I absolutely cannot believe Summer vacation is coming to an end. It has been absolutely wonderful. Jeff has been at home with all 3 kiddos all summer and while he is ready to go back to work (he really enjoys the structure and routine), I'm not ready to be running in a million different directions with all 3 of the kids at different places. Preston will be at the elementary school, Emily will be at the primary school, and Callie will either be at Dana's house (she will keep Callie 2 days a week) or at Linda and Roy's. We do what we have to do, but it's hard on a Mama's heart to know that her birds are all spread out when out of the nest. Nonetheless, we are all a bit ready for some structure. We've had a summer full of lake trips, sleeping in, afternoon adventures, visiting lots and lots of family, a Cardinals game, and pretty much anything else we could think of. We went to visit my Mom in Oklahoma for several days during the 4th of July and then drove to Springfield where we visited with my Grandma and then got up the next morning and caravanned with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin and her family to St Louis. We met LeeAnn, Barrett, and their kids and had a full weekend of fun. We watched the Cardinals play and win and went to Grants Farm and then let the kids take full advantage of the hotel pool. It was a very full weekend, but I was so thankful to be able to spend it with family. Just this week, I met Jeff's cousin and her family from Chicago. They drove down with Jeff's Aunt and Uncle and we've spent several days with them. Yesterday we spent the afternoon in downtown Memphis showing them around and eating. It was fun. They have 2 children, Becca (13) and Caleb (10). Both my big kids really bonded with them and can't wait to see them again. Hopefully we'll get up to Chicago before too long. Callie is doing great. She's had a few hard nights lately, but we think it's a combination of growth spurt and full moon. :-) Hopefully these hard nights will end soon. And by hard, I mean up for about an hour. I know that's not really hard when talking about an infant, but for someone who has slept well her entire life, this is new and hard. She's such a happy baby that it's hard to hear her cry at night.

Photo Drop

I finally found an app that would allow me to make a collage so I've made a couple. The first is one from the other day when Preston got home from school. Callie loves her brother and sister and I was finally able to capture her love for her brother on camera. The second is Callie's weekly pictures starting at week two. My goodness how she has changed!! Here are a few from Mother's Day. Jeff took us bowling and we had a blast!

Mother's Day 2013

As Mother's Day is approaching, I have been thinking a lot about the 3 little blessings that call me Mom. Being a Mom is something I always knew I wanted. I have been blessed to have a wonderful example of what a Godly Mom looks like and want to be that to my kids as well. Since Preston, Emily, and Callie are the reason I get to celebrate, I thought I'd share some of my favorite things about them. I'll start with Preston. Preston is Jeff's mini me. Always has been and I hope he always will be. To have another man in this world like Jeff Shands would be a blessing. Especially to his future wife. :) Anyway, what I love most about Preston is his desire to learn. He loves school, reading, and doing math problems. He recently told his friends that he wished he could go to school all year long. He MOST DEFINITELY doesn't get that from me! He's very competitive in his school work. Hopefully that will carry him a long way in life. I also love watching him with his sisters. Yes, BOTH of them. We went to our city carnival a couple weeks ago and he and Emily did the big swing thing. He helped her in every way he could since Jeff and I weren't riding. With Callie, he's a natural. Oh my goodness. He's so gentle and calm with her and she loves loves him. She doesn't typically like riding in the car in the late afternoon/evening, but most of the time it doesn't bother him. He just talks to her and holds her tiny hand. I think he likes having a baby sister. :) On to Emily... Sweet sweet Emily. She has such a loving and affectionate personality. She is friends with everyone and loves on everyone. That's not always the best thing, but we are working on that with her. She just has so much love to give. My favorite recent memory is how she would kiss and hug my belly every morning and tell the baby bye. I hope that memory never fades because it's such a sweet one. She's growing up too quickly and has done remarkably well in Kindergarten. She is reading everything and her teacher, Mrs. Lori, said that she is ready for first grade! We are very proud of her. She's had a lot of changes over the last year and she's handled everything beautifully. My sweet Callie. I've said it a hundred times, but I'll say it again. God definitely knew what He was doing when He gave her to us. She is an absolute angel, but my favorite things about her are the way her paci falls out when she smiles. I also love her breath!! There's just nothing like a breastfed baby's breath. I wish I could bottle it up. She's such a happy baby and I'm so thankful. I strive to thank God every day I have with my family because I know each day is a blessing that I don't deserve. Of course, none of this would be possible without my wonderful Jeff. There aren't enough words to say how thankful I am for him. He's my rock and my hero. There aren't many men out there like him. I am blessed....

2 Months

Here's a look at what our 2 month old looks like... She's is really the perfect baby. Sure, we have had some tough days, but I can still count those on one hand. She typically sleeps from 8:30pm-6:30am and naps a lot in the morning. The evenings are a little bit harder. I haven't figured it out yet, but she tends to have more awake time and it's not always happy awake time. It could be due to the fact that her brother and sister get home and want to be loud and crazy. I started working from home May 1st. It's definitely been an adjustment going back to looking at a computer for 9 hours, but Callie has been wonderful. She pretty much sleeps in my lap all day and demands very little. I will go back to the office on June 3rd. As much as I would love to stay at home with my sweet baby, I love my job and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to work. In the meantime, I'm going to soak up every second I have with her. Her stats at her 2 month appointment: weight 10lbs, 14oz (50%), 23 inches long (75%), and 14 1/2cm head circumference (5%). She looks a little different now in her "Callie" gown than she did in the hospital!

8 Weeks

Gracious how time is flying by! It's been 8 weeks since we welcomed our Callie Grace and it seems like I was just sitting in the rocker trying to rock myself into labor! What a sweet and perfect explanation point she is to our family. She's been sleeping through the night since pretty much 2 days old. There were a couple of nights when she woke up around 2 or 3am, but for the most part, it would be 5am. Now she sleeps from 8:30pm-6:30am. Yeah, we are BLESSED!!! Jeff and I were just talking about how we don't feel like we experienced the typical sleep deprived newborn stage. There are no complaints here! We know that God has graciously blessed us with a good sleeper. She still sleeps a lot during the day, but mainly in the morning. The afternoons and evenings are more full of awake time. I'm still trying to figure out a balance because I think sometimes the afternoon awake time gets a bit overstimulating to her. She has lost a lot of her hair which makes me sad, but still has a good amount. She's also lost that newborn look. She smiles ALL THE TIME and has recently discovered her tongue. She's such a fun baby and really goes with the flow. She's been to Preston's baseball games, practice, Emily's school program, and I'm sure many other events I cannot remember right now. She likes her bedtime of 8:30, but can be stretched if needed. Preston and Emily are still having fun playing with her, but the newness has worn off and they aren't arguing over who gets to hold her anymore. They still take turns sitting by her in the car and love showing her off to their friends. They are huge helpers which is another huge blessing. I think it's safe to say that all 4 of us are in love with this sweet baby girl. :)

1 Month!

It's so hard to believe, but Callie is already 1 month old. This last month has been such a blessing and I sometimes pinch myself to see if it's all real. Callie has been sleeping like a champ since we came home from the hospital. We have had a night of 10 hours uninterrupted sleep, several 9 hour nights, but mostly 7-8 hour nights. She's been smiling since 1 week (even Dr. Catherine noticed). This week she has realized that she can make sounds other than crying. On Callie's 1 week appointment, she weighed 7lbs, 13oz which means she gained 10 oz in 1 week. We had to take her back the next week because her belly button had to be cauterized and at that appointment, she weighed 8lbs, 3oz. She definitely an eater, but if that means she'll sleep all night, I'll feed her all day long. She is still wearing newborn sized clothes, but has moved up to size 1 diapers. She's such a blessing and we can't remember what we did before her!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Callie Grace Shands entered this world on Tuesday, March 5th at 2:56pm weighing 7lbs, 3oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. She has beautiful light brown hair and has completely captured all of our hearts. I ended up being induced a little earlier than I would have liked, but everything went perfectly. Jeff and I got to the hospital at 6am and by 7:00, I was all hooked up to the pitocin. I was still 2 cm and baby was still pretty high. Dr. Cole was supposed to come to the hospital at 8 and break my water, but at 9, the nurse came in and said that Dr. Cole was in the parking lot to come see me when she got called to do an emergency surgery at Baptist. The nurse said she wouldn't be there until 12 Noon. I was disappointed, but knew there was nothing that could be done about it and so I asked the nurse if my water could break on its own. She said that it could, but most of the time it doesn't happen on its own in inductions. So, we sat down and got mentally prepared for a long day. I decided to go ahead and get my epidural at 10:15 because I wanted to get it out of the way and my contractions were starting to get pretty strong. At 10:45, the nurse checked me and I was 3 cm and my water had broken on its own! That was an answer to prayer! At noon, Dr. Cole came in and checked me and I was now at 5cm and 70% effaced. I was a little disappointed with how slow things were going, but knew it was out of my control and I was feeling fine so I just enjoyed the quiet time with just Jeff. The nurse came in at 1:50 and checked me and I was up to 8cm. She started to get a few things ready in the room and I started to get more excited (if that's possible). Shortly after 2, I started to feel a lot of pressure and knew that meant one thing... I had to be 10cm. I called the nurse and she checked me at 2:10 (20 mins after she had checked me and I was 8). Sure enough, I was 10cm and it was baby time! Dr. Cole got there and I started pushing and 8 minutes later, Callie was here. Linda brought Preston and Emily up to the hospital when they got out of school. I think Preston was a little bit disappointed at first that it wasn't a boy, but he got over that REALLY fast and became as smitten with her as Jeff, Emily, and I were/are. In fact, he took my phone to take pictures of her getting a bath in the nursery and ended up taking a 7 minute video as well as multiple pictures. Before he left to go to the Shands that night, he came up to me and said "Mom, she smells so good." He told us the next day that he cried on the way to the Shands that night because he didn't want to leave her. Oh, my heart! My sweet baby boy was being so sensitive and loved his new little sister. We had several friends celebrate that night and the next day with us and it was truly a special time for us. We left the next day at 4pm (pretty much 25 hours after she was born). We were so anxious to get home and be a family of 5. More on that in another post. Since then, we've been completely overwhelmed with all the calls, texts, meals (amazing and delicious meals at that), and sweet gifts that have been given to us. Although Jeff and I did not plan Callie Grace, we are so thankful that God did and that He knows exactly what we need. We definitely needed this sweet baby girl!